A Pool Party and More

The week before we left for Vancouver was a busy one that got away from me with no blogging. This post is meant mostly for me to remember how nice it was. Bill and David turned 36 on April Fools Day, and we celebrated by taking them to eat at Chuy's. In a rare instance, they let me take their photograph, even slightly smiling. Too funny how they dressed similarly.

Our service was terrible, but the food and company were great. Here are David and Michelle in a super shot of the two of them. I just love it!

And I took one of Bill and Fallon as well.

So, that was a good night, but that was not all the celebrating for their birthday. Michelle and Fallon planned a pool party for Saturday afternoon for just a few friends, and for some reason--the parents. Before the festivities, the pool doctor, aka known as Mom, spent some time getting it in shape.

The back yard is yet to be tackled, as in no grass, but the pool sure looked good. Fallon bought Bill a corn hole set as part of his birthday presents, a game I'd only seen others play. At first I thought it was a mistake that the "holes" were at either end of the pool, but no, that was the plan. I may be good at some things, but corn hole is not one of them. I lost count of the times I dove into the pool for bag retrieval! Surprisingly it was refreshing rather than excruciatingly cold. Everyone tried their hand at the game...this is Brittany in full throw mode. (red bag in air)

Some of you may have heard of a band called Creed,; Bill has been friendly with one of the original members for a long time--Mark Tremonti. Through the years they have played a lot of guitar together, and Bill always told us how nice he is. Well, we got to meet him at the party, and everything Bill told us is true. He, too, had fun with corn hole.

Not once did I have to dive for his bag! The girls brought in Four Rivers Bar-b-que and it was wonderful. As well, B & D never liked cake, always opting for an ice cream version instead. Delicious!

I suppose by now they are accustomed to sharing a birthday cake....

The girls were staying pretty poolside, while my hair was a wet stringy mess!

It was really, really nice; about halfway through the party I mentioned to Bill that days like this are what we worked so hard on the house for. Here's to many more!

Easter Sunday was surprisingly busy at the market--selling six canvases and lots of paper prints was a pleasant surprise. Three of the canvases were framed ones, which is both good, and bad. Good, because I love showing off Bruce's handiwork, bad, because he is short on time these days to make new ones. He does, however, have some wood, so we shall see.

If all goes according to plan, Herbert and his helpers will be here on Monday to paint the house. Nancy and I were talking and she wondered why I wasn't doing it myself. Well, good question Nancy. Explaining that he would do a better job, we'll leave it at that. One thing I'm having trouble articulating is the major difference when I look from the table at the darkness of the house. It is such a radical change from the sunny yellow..

It is not that I don't like it, because I do, but I suspect it will take a little time to adjust. In a good way, or so I hope! I still kind of like my aqua colored shutters...

When I asked the guy at Ace Hardware what the heck to do with the paint samples, he suggested I pour them onto cardboard and let them dry. Opening all six cans filled with shades of gray, it was fascinating to see how the colors separated.

Well, that turned into a fun disposal method. I have seriously been bitten by the art bug as I couldn't just dump them, I was compelled to make it look interesting.

Hard to believe they all have gray in their name isn't it? Anyway, it took about two days for this to completely solidify. I've since read that a good method is to either put sand, or kitty litter, in a can of paint that is ready for disposal. Of course, with my cans so full, that did not apply in my case, however, it sounds like a good method for another day because both you and I know, I will be changing paint colors somewhere in the house again!

The sun is doing its darnedest to peek through the early morning clouds, the birds are singing up a storm, and I'm ready for a bike ride.

Happy Thursday,

Gail

p.s. In case you are interested in how Matt Stromberg is doing, here is the link to Angela's latest entry on Caring Bridge. She did not answer her phone when I called yesterday so I have nothing to add.